Chasselay massacre
| Chasselay massacre | |
|---|---|
| Part of the Battle of France | |
The graves of the prisoners of war murdered in the massacre | |
| Location | Near Chasselay, Rhône |
| Date | 20 June 1940 |
| Target | French prisoners of war |
Attack type | Massacre |
| Deaths | ~50 killed |
| Perpetrators | German Army Waffen-SS |
| Motive | Racism |
The Chasselay massacre was the mass killing of French prisoners of war by German Army and Waffen-SS soldiers during the Battle of France in World War II. After capturing non-white French POWs during the capture of Lyon on 19 June 1940, German troops took approximately 50 black soldiers to a field near Chasselay, and used two tanks to murder them. After the massacre, local civilians buried the dead in a mass grave despite German warnings not to do so. Vichy official Jean-Baptiste Marchiani ordered the construction of a cemetery for the victims, which opened in 1942. It is believed that between 1,500 and 3,000 soldiers from the French colonies were killed in war crimes carried out by the Wehrmacht in 1940.